Richard Todd Jones, 21, previously pleaded guilty to attempting to maliciously kill an animal and failing to appear for court. Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Duke Bloom gave him one to three years for the animal cruelty charge and one to five years for failing to appear.
Last November, Jones called his ex-girlfriend and threatened to kill her dog if she didn’t come home, assistant Kanawha County prosecutor Fred Giggenbach said.
According to a police report, the woman could hear her dog -- a 6-month-old pit bull terrier named Marcie -- whining through the phone.
Jones told the woman that he would hurt her dog more for every 10 minutes she was late, according to the police report.
The dog’s body was given to the woman in a trash bag, according to the prosecutor.
While investigating the case, Nitro police exhumed the dog and had a veterinarian examine its wounds. Jones said during a hearing last month that he didn’t actually shoot the dog, and blamed another man, Nicholas Woodin, for the shooting. Giggenbach has said that a case against Woodin was dismissed because of insufficient evidence.
As part of a deal with prosecutors, Jones was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser felony. He had been charged with a more serious animal cruelty charge.
Jones also admitted that in March, before he was set to appear for a hearing, he slipped out of the Kanawha Judicial Annex. He later told Bloom he “got scared and ran” when asked why he didn’t appear for the hearing.
(Sunday Gazette Mail - May 15, 2015)
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